Erirrhinites bognorensis
Erirrhinites bognorensis
View age-specific evidence and explanation
There are no currently eligible, unambiguously age-indexed published Occurrences for this Species. This does not indicate absence or rarity.
These counts describe published LBPS Occurrence records with directly assigned, unambiguous geological-unit mappings—not specimen abundance. Records at restricted Localities and ambiguous or unsupported ages are excluded. Species-level age labels are not used as proof of an age-specific Occurrence.
Specimen-based rarity requires comparable, correctly identified physical fossils, geological provenance and publication permissions. It does not estimate your chance of finding a fossil or collecting access.
Quick Identification
What to look for
- Look for a slender snout and a pronotum (the plate behind the head) that narrows towards the front. The front leg sockets nearly touch beneath the body.
- Inspect the underside beside those sockets: a short, curved groove runs forwards from the outer edge of each one.
- Check the wing cases for regularly spaced circular pits; Britton counted about 26 along the third row.
Be careful
- This species is based on one fossil. Without the snout and front of the thorax, a worn hindbody should not be assigned confidently to this species.
Summary
Britton described Erirrhinites bognorensis from a single fossil, but that tiny weevil was complete enough to establish an extinct genus. Its body measures about 3.5 mm without the slender snout. The head, thorax and wing cases survived well enough for Britton to describe a new genus from an animal that had ultimately been washed onto the Bognor Regis shore.
Its feeding plant is unknown. Britton noted that members of the living genus Erirrhinus inhabit marshy places among reeds and sphagnum moss, raising the possibility of a similar association. That is a comparison, not proof of where the fossil species lived. What Britton’s specimen offers is a rare, detailed view of a small plant-associated insect in the early Eocene landscape.
Diagnostic Features
- Rostrum is slender, with the posterior ends of the antennal scrobes shallow where they approach its base.
- Pronotum lacks developed ocular lobes and lacks a strong anteroventral emargination.
- Anterior coxae are globular and almost contiguous; from the outer edge of each coxal cavity a short deep curved groove runs forwards for about half the distance to the anterior thoracic margin.
- Pronotum is constricted anteriorly, widest about one third of its length from the base, densely punctured and without sharply defined lateral margins.
- Elytral striae contain strong regular circular punctures, with about twenty-six punctures along the third stria; the intervals are slightly convex with sparse fine punctures.
Fossil Details
Recorded Fossil Sites
No fossil-site occurrences have yet been recorded for this species.
Diagnostic Sources
Britton (1960), p. 40, pl. 6, figs 1–2: original genus and species diagnosis of the single described holotype. Check slender rostrum, absence of ocular lobes, curved groove beside anterior coxae and regular elytral punctures together. A detached worn hindbody is not diagnostic.
- Britton, E. B. (1960). Beetles from the London clay (Eocene) of Bognor Regis, Sussex. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, 4(2), 27–50 View reference
References
- Britton, E. B. (1960). Beetles from the London clay (Eocene) of Bognor Regis, Sussex. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, 4(2), 27–50 View reference
- Legalov, A. A. (2020). Fossil History of Curculionoidea (Coleoptera) from the Paleogene. Geosciences, 10(9), 358 View reference